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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-382 – Dave Mcgillivray – 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4382.mp3] Link epi4382.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-382 Hello. This is Chris. Today we have an excellent interview with Dave McGillivray about his recent experience of running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days. We go off script a bit and do a bit of old-guy trash talking too. I was originally going to skip this week because I’ve been so beat up by work and training recently. But, when I spoke to Dave and heard how great the conversation was I had to get it out. In section one I’ll talk about how struggling through bad workouts isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In Section two I’ll drop a chapter from the audio book version of my Marathon BQ book called “The Dark Place”. That’s the theme for this week I guess, struggle and perseverance. Stick to the plan. As of today, we are 50 or so days out from Boston. My training, although challenging, is, in the grand scheme, going well. Coming into this weekend I saw that the weather was going to be heavy freezing rain on Sunday and petitioned coach to move my long run to Saturday. He acquiesced and I did a nice sunny run with my buddies yesterday. They ended up running about 2:15 and I went a little longer and hit 2:45. It ended up around 19 and ½ miles for me. Having run the same 2:45 last weekend on Sunday, that means the two long runs fell into the same 7-day week and I ended up with over 60 miles for the week. That’s something I haven’t seen for awhile. My legs are holding up ok. I went back out today with some other guys from my club and we did an easy hour in the trails in the freezing rain. No issues. I do need to work more core strength and stretching in because I’m tight, but, hey you can’t do everything. My tempo runs are coming in around a 7:30 pace which is encouraging. My engine is very strong. My heart is solid. The legs are the constraint right now. I imagine that should improve with all this volume. Bottom line I’m in a good spot for a strong 20th Boston Marathon if we get good weather. … It’s funny, I wrote that Marathon BQ book a couple years ago because it insisted on getting out of my head. If you were to train with me these are the kind of stories you’d hear over and over. I started the podcast for the same reason, to take all this stuff about running I’d accumulated and get it out into the public where it might do some good. The book, putts along at a dozen or so a month, spiking in the spring and fall when people tend to think about qualifying! I suppose I should make some effort to find a real publisher given the staying power and what they call “irrational enthusiasm” people have around the topic. I’m too busy. If you know an enthusiastic publisher who wants a market tested vehicle I’ll take the meeting. But, what really turns me on, what really makes me think ‘huh’, is when I get these emails out of the blue that thank me for it. It really blows me away. I’ll share one here. Redacted, because I don’t have permission. Chris, I know that you receive countless "thank you" emails from runners who have found success using your Marathon BQ training plan.... but I wanted to offer yet another. Last year, I ran the Chicago Marathon - giving it all that I had - finishing in 3:44:24....essentially the same time that finished at the Disney Marathon several years prior. In one year, using your program, I dropped 23 minutes off of my time, finishing the 2018 Houston Marathon strong in 3:21:04. My goal was to qualify for Boston....and with a BQ cutoff of 3:25 for my age (46) group, it looks like I will get a bib. All of those speed workouts really worked! Looking forward to running Boston in 2019. Can't thank you enough! Sincere yours, Redacted On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com Become a member … Section one – Tale of two workouts - http://runrunlive.com/tale-of-two-workouts Voices of reason – the conversation Dave race director, philanthropist, author and athlete Dave McGillivray is a U.S.-based. In 1978, he ran across the U.S. to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.[1] Presently he is race director of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) Boston Marathon and his team at DMSE Sports, Inc. have organized well over 1,000 mass-participatory endurance events since he founded it in 1981.This was taken toward the end of headlands 100 in sept. In 1978, McGillivray ran across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon to his hometown of Medford, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,452 miles, ending in Fenway Park in Boston. His effort raised funds for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.[2] Two years later, he ran the East Coast Run to benefit the Jimmy Fund, running 1,520 miles from Winter Haven, Florida to Boston, Massachusetts joined by Robert Hall, a pioneer of wheelchair marathoning, raising money for the Jimmy Fund and meeting with President Jimmy Carter at the White House during the run. In 1982, McGillivray ran the Boston Marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded and being escorted by two guides to raise $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Mass.[3] He competed in eight Gatorade Ironman Triathlons from 1980 to 1989, an individual endurance event consisting of three back-to-back distance events: a 2.4 mile rough, open ocean water swim, followed by a 112-mile bike race and finishing up with a 26.2-mile marathon run. In 1981, McGillivray ran in the Empire State Building Run Up, an 86-story, 1,575-step run, placing 10th with a time of 13 minutes, 27 seconds. The same year he participated in the annual New England Run where he triathloned (ran, cycled, and swam) 1,522 miles throughout the six New England states raising $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund. The event required a run up and down Mount Washington and swimming two miles across Lake Winneapesaukee, both in New Hampshire, as well as swimming one mile from Woods Hole in Cape Cod towards Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, ending the course with running three miles alongside inmates within the Walpole State Prison and raising $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund.[4] A year later he swam more than seven miles in the Martha's Vineyard Swim, from Martha's Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts, raising funds for the Jimmy Fund and was greeted on the shore by runners such as Alberto Salazar. In 1986, he formed the first sanctioned running club inside a maximum security institution at Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts. He conducted and ran in numerous distance races inside the prison yard, including completing and winning a full 26.2 mile marathon against inmates.[5] In 1980, he ran in the Wrentham State School 24-Hour Run, traversing 120 miles in 24 hours throughout 31 cities in southeastern Massachusetts, ending in Foxboro Stadium during the half-time of a New England Patriots football game. Held to benefit the Wrentham State School for the Mentally Retarded, the run raised more than $10,000 for the handicapped. In 1983, he participated in the Jimmy Fund 24-Hour Swim, swimming for 24 consecutive hours in the Olympic-size Medford High School pool, which totaled 1,884 lengths and covering 26.2 miles (distance of the Boston Marathon), again raising funds for the Jimmy Fund. Also in 1983, McGillivray took part in the Merrimack College New England Bike Ride where he cycled more than 1,000 miles throughout six New England states in 14 days to raise money for a scholarship fund for his alma mater, Merrimack College. In 1986, McGillivray biked again for 24 consecutive hours around a five-mile loop course in Medford, Massachusetts while simultaneously directing the annual Bay State Triathlon being held on the course at the same time. He covered a total of 385 miles, again raising money for the Jimmy Fund.[2] In 2004, McGillivray and other marathon runners ran across the U.S. following the same path he took in 1978, raising $300,000 for five charities benefiting children. Each year McGillivray runs his birthday age in miles, a tradition he started when he was 12 and realized that running was his passion. McGillivray has also run the Boston Marathon each year since 1973; the first 16 years as an entrant and since working with the race as its director, has run the course after his duties are completed.[6] In 2006, McGillivray wrote “The Last Pick”[1] with writer Linda Glass Fechter, chronicling his childhood as the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, telling readers never to underestimate their own ability to set and achieve goals. The book also covers his life as an athlete and race director. Section two – Marathon BQ Audio Book Chapter – “the dark place” – http://www.marathonbq.com Outro Ok my friends you have run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents with 7 brides for 7 brothers to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast. Episode 4-382 finito. I’m going to keep it quick. Things are weird for me personally, professionally and athletically but I’m keeping my head above water. I do feel a bit burnt out. And I think I need to maybe take a couple mental health days in the next few weeks. It comes and goes. When things get hard I try to remember to be grateful. How lucky am I to have all the things I have in my life? It’s a bounty. What you will find is that the more you practice gratitude, the more of a self-fulfilling prophecy it becomes. I would love to hear what you are grateful for. Send me some audio and I’ll put together a composition for us. Do it now before you forget. What are you grateful for? I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

Episode 4-381 – Megan – First 100 Advice

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-381 – Megan – First 100 Advice (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4381.mp3] Link epi4381.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-381 Hey folks, how is everybody doing? I am doing fine, thank you for asking. Here we are in February. Are you watching the winter Olympics? Aren’t they exciting with all those fun winter sports? I Particularly like the snow-man building. I think the Czechs have a real shot at gold there. With the Russians banned for doping that leaves the snow-fort-building and snowball-fight category wide open? Who can forget Dimitri Puschov’s overhand ice ball of 88 in Calgary? I don’t think anyone can unseat the French in competitive pairs snow-angels. They just got that je ne sais quios. Been a long couple weeks. Started out well with the Derry 16 miler after we last spoke. I ran it as a surge workout and felt fantastic. Finished in almost exactly 2:15. People were a bit startled to see me laying in those 3 minute surges during the race. I’d blow by people like they were nailed down then pull up and settle back into a easy run. Like I said, I felt great. Finished with a good kick and wasn’t at all sore afterwards. That was at the end of a pretty big build week. Then coach threw me into another build week with two long surge runs. I did them before work down by the river. One in a snow storm and one 10 degrees. Nothing like an 1:30 surge run in a snow storm before work to make your cheeks rosy. This week I had a bit of a down week. Coach gave me speed work. I had a bad day Tuesday and had to walk away from a 7 X 1600 workout on the treadmill. I was trying to do it after work and I was just mentally and physically exhausted. I rarely give up on workouts but I just could will myself to execute. But it was ok because it forced me to reevaluate my expectations of myself. I’ve got to come to grips with not being able to do the paces I used to and just execute the workouts to the best of my ability. I’m putting too much pressure on myself to live up to the Chris of 10 years ago. I have to put that baggage away and get out of my own head. I did a ladder workout in the cold and dark ice of my neighborhood Thursday night. I just ran as hard as I could and didn’t worry about pace. That wasn’t so bad. I was surprised at some of the paces I hit by not paying attention to pace. Tomorrow coach has me scheduled to do a 10K race simulation. I hate these race sims but he wants to see what I’ve got. I’m just going to go out and run it by feel and, again, not worry about pace. I’ve got another gym story for you from last week. Actually I’ll give this one to you as a math problem and a ‘choose your own adventure’ story. I discovered something interesting. It turns out one of my daughters has underwear that looks very similar to my athletic underwear, or what they refer to as my ‘man-thongs’, or what we would have called in the 70’s a ‘jockstrap’. So here is your math problem. If you have the choice of a) going commando in your running tights (when it’s 10 degrees out), or b) wearing your cotton briefs in the workout or c) wearing your daughter’s underwear to your workout, and if you also have the choice of going commando to work, cotton briefs to work or girls underwear to work, How many different combinations are possible (assuming you cannot repeat any of the options for work or workout) and what is the formula? Originally, I thought this would be a factorial, but I don’t think it is because it’s 2 situations, work and workout. Therefor, unless one of you math geek corrects me I think it’s a simple square of 3. 3 X 3 = 9 different possible combinations of commando, cotton briefs and girls’ underwear. And this is the choose your own adventure part of the story. You find yourself in a gym locker room at 6:30 in the morning. You reach into your backpack for your running clothes and find a pair of girls’ underwear instead of your athletic underwear. You have cotton briefs to wear to work. What do you do? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com Become a member … Section one – How to do workouts when you forget your watch - http://runrunlive.com/30-day-diet-reboot-day-30 Voices of reason – the conversation Megan – Teacher, VeganRunningMom and Ultrarunner This was taken toward the end of headlands 100 in sept. People can follow me on Instagram @veganrunningmom Snapchat @veganrunningmom Twitter @veganrunningmom Or Facebook -Megan Storms Was lovely to catch up some Today! Thanks and good luck to you!!! Section two – 30 Day Diet Reboot Summary - http://runrunlive.com/when-you-forget-your-watch Outro Ok my friends you have worn your womens’ underwear to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast. Episode 4-381 done and done. What’s coming up for me? Not much really. I’m sure my training will ramp up as we get into the final weeks before Boston. I used my Baystate time to upgrade my race position. The BAA accepted my Portland time but didn’t take the adjusted time, they took the original net time, which was still a qualifier but 4 minutes slower than what the race directors gave me. That was because they screwed up the course and made us run an extra ½ mile. My Baystate time is a minute plus faster than that adjusted time, so 6 minutes faster than the time the BAA gave me from Portland. 6 Minutes in the middle of the pack at Boston is probably 3,000 runners. Might even move me up a corral. I’m not collecting for any charity this year. It’s my 20th Boston Marathon and I’m running it for me, and for you. I’m training for it. If we get decent weather I’m racing it. I’ll do my best and respect it. We will celebrate it together. I’m humbled and grateful that this special race has become part of our lives. Maybe I’ll run next year, maybe I won’t, but this year I’m going to run and celebrate how lucky I am. … My wife lost an uncle this week. We went to the wake and funeral. It was good to see her cousins and aunts and uncles. Her parents’ generation is getting to that age. I knew this uncle from her family events. He was a kind and caring man. Seeing his kids and the impact he had on his family by being that kind and caring man impressed on me some lessons. You don’t have to be a superhero or save the world to make a difference in this world. You just have to care for those around you. You don’t have to overtly do anything special to make a difference. You can make a difference just by being there, being present and caring. Your actions, even those daily, run of the mill activities that we all take for granted, impact the lives of others. In fact, it is those small loving and caring moments that have the most impact on the ones we love and care about. Live your life, go through life, with the understanding that everything you do has an impact on others. The hustle and bustle of career and stuff is not that important in the grand scheme of things. Keep it in perspective and take time to be present for the ones you love. And… I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

Episode 4-380 – Lori – Coma to Boston

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-380 – Lori – Coma to Boston (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4380.mp3] Link epi4380.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-380, This is Chris your host. It is well into January and I lied. I am going to run the Derry road race this weekend. I wasn’t going to because coach gets so made when I race instead of following my training plan, but Derry coincided with a long training run. I promised to actually run the training run on the Derry course and not race. Today we are talking with Lori who has a wonderful, compelling story that I am grateful to be able to share with you. The audio quality of the interview was a bit poor and I had to clean up a lot of noise, so apologies for the hum and fade in places. But the story is great and should transcend the constraints of the medium. In section one I’ll talk about overlapping different types of training plans. In section two I’ll share, with permission, a response I wrote to a listener seeking advice on presentation skills. My training is going fine. I’m starting to build up my volume for Boston. It’s less than 3 months away so I’m sure I’ll be getting into some longer quality work in the coming weeks. The 30 Day Diet Reboot went well. I dropped about 10 pounds and I feel much fitter. You don’t realize how much difference it makes until you get back to race weight. Eating clean just makes everything easier. I continue to put long hours in and commute to the city. It’s difficult to find the time, and more importantly the space to write and record. I hate pushing it to the weekends because I have other stuff to do. It makes me feel rushed and less creative. Like I said I get up early, take the train in and usually do my workout before all before 8:00 AM. As my volume starts to increase this means getting out to the Charles River path before 7:00AM – which is just when dawn is breaking. I’m doing better. I haven’t forgotten anything or put any clothes on backwards for weeks. Friday morning I did my hill workout on the treadmill in the gym. I’m still figuring out the treadmills. I can’t figure out how to program it to do what I want so I have to manually adjust the speed and incline between reps. It’s tricky because you have to hold down two buttons at the same time. When I was transitioning into my 3rd rep the button got stuck and went to 30% incline and wouldn’t stop. I had to jump off and reset the whole workout. That was a bit exciting. I also discovered that these treadmills decline, at least 3%, which I’ll have to play with. That might come in handy for Boston training. Remember, this is my 20th Boston. I asked people what I should do to recognize that and one of the suggestions I liked was to design a special shirt with 20 unicorns on it. Maybe a unicorn party! … I was listening to an author speak this week about moments. They were talking about how many of the iconic moments in our lives were created, scripted if you will, by someone. Birthday celebrations have a script of gifts and cake and candles. Graduations, weddings, funerals, all these events don’t just happen, they are, were, designed for the social impact that they have. The author talked about the Olympic medal ceremony, how someone had to make that up. It’s essentially a little story, a vignette designed for a purpose. These vignettes create a message, a sticky emotional story that stays with us. That’s the purpose of the moment. So, when you look at your daily lfe and the good people who share it with you what are those moments? How can you write your own scripts? How can you make the vignette of hugging your child have the import of an Olympic medal ceremony? On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com Become a member … Section one – Transitioning from one type of training to another - http://runrunlive.com/overlapping-training-plans Voices of reason – the conversation Lori Riggles– Teacher and Survivor Here are a few links, my bio, and picture. The picture was the moment I saw my daughter during the Boston Marathon 2017. http://www.wsfa.com/story/33637032/montgomery-catholic-teacher-hit-by-truck-to-run-in-nyc-marathon http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2016/11/05/powering-through-local-teacher-overcomes-injuries-run-marathon/92847480/ http://www.alabamanews.net/2016/10/28/local-teacher-recovers-serious-accident-prepares-nyc-marathon/ Teaching is a rewarding experience, which I have dedicated 25 years to. I teach so that I can expose the infinite possibilities to achieve success to each child that I come in contact with. I have dedicated my life to inspiring children to help others through charitable causes, service projects, and empathy. My relationship with running began when I was a child going through many of my own challenges. Running became an outlet that truly saved me and made me the person I am today. Born in Oklahoma, I discovered running while living in Wyoming as teen. I currently live in Alabama with my husband and three children. My interests include reading, writing, coaching Science Olympiad, playing the flute, and being active. It has always been my mission to help others, I am currently writing a book of my experiences to encourage others to overcome their own personal obstacles. My goal is to use the challenges that I have faced to help others. If what I have been through can help one person, then that is what is truly important. My future goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I aspire to reach goals beyond what anyone thought would be possible. Lori Section two – On Story Telling – A letter - http://runrunlive.com/story-telling-a-letter Outro Ok my friends you have worked your way from the coma of consciousness to the hard fought glory of triumph through to the end of episode 4-380 of the RunRunLive podcast. Congratulations, we did it again. Nothing radically new for me coming up. I’ll use Derry as a training run tomorrow. I’ll keep working hard everyday to meet my life goals and I’ll keep telling stories and smiling. It’s pretty simple. I used to think life was complex and hard. But it aint. You just keep picking them up and putting them down and smile while you’re doing it. Life will take care of itself. I think Lori’s message is a great one. We are not struggling and striving and overcoming just for ourselves. We are doing it for others. If we are doing it honestly, selflessly and with gratitude we are creating a clearing for others. We are creating a clearing in the forest of fear; of don’t and can’t – a clearing of can do and a clearing of potential and a clearing of possibility. This is the life of abundance. The more you give the more you receive. I’m going to keep it short. I’m a bit exhausted today. But I am grateful. Grateful for you. Grateful for the gifts I’ve been given. Grateful to have a curious and active mind. Grateful for the gift of physical capability and grateful for my choice to use it. Like I said to Lori. Studies show that this practice of gratefulness makes the same physical changes to your brain that meditation or prayer does. Who knows, maybe my gratitude creates a positive ripple in the pond of universal consciousness. It’s been a pleasure and a gift to talk to you today. What can you contribute? What can you be grateful for? Surely you have gifts that you can share with us? I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

Episode 4-379 – The 30 Day Diet Reboot with Rachel Shuck

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-379 – The 30 Day Diet Reboot with Rachel Shuck (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4379.mp3] Link epi4379.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-379, This is Chris your host. It is the second weekend of the new year if you’re on the Gregorian Calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to upgrade the Julian Calendar. Because if your calendar is messed up all your holy days hop around and it makes it harder to aestheticize the mediaeval masses with religious chicanery. Or something like that. Anyhow… before I scurry down the rat hole of historical events let’s talk about the wild and wonderful world of endurance sports, or at least our little corner of it. It’s been a busy couple weeks since we last talked. On the day before New Years, Dec 31st, I hosted my 5th Groton Marathon. Which is an made up event where whomever wants to shows up and runs whatever they want. We set up the clock so we have a real start and finish and I post the times to a website – I guess you could call it ‘pretend official’. The curious part is the a handful of us go out and run an actual marathon through all the local towns. This year I got 4 other guys to join me. The weather did not cooperate. It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit at the start and never got out of single digits. I ended up getting in the support vehicle at 21.3ish because I was suffering. We went out a bit fast for me and I didn’t have any legs left. We had to go a bit fast in the beginning to get the feeling back in our toes and fingers from the cold. It was miserable running weather. There was a stretch from like 19 – 21 where we turned into a head wind that was awful. The other four guys finished successfully. My friend Gary ran in with a 3:52 and the other 3 came in around 3:55. The next morning my family and I went up to run the Hangover Classic in Salisbury. The deep freeze did not abate. It was -19 with the wind chill. I ran the 5K with Teresa and she came in 4th in her age group. Then, yes, we did, we ran over and jumped in the ocean. I was a bit worried about surviving this but the water felt warm compared to the air so it wasn’t too bad. The water in the ocean at 35-36 degrees Fahrenheit had steam coming off it like a hot tub in the single digit temps. That same day, the 1st of the new year (according to Pope Greg) I started a 30 Day Diet Reboot with my nutrition coach Rachel. I’m off the beer and the bad food for a month. I’m logging all my food in MyFitnessPal and posting a daily blog about it on my website (RunRunLive.com) under a category called ’30 Day Diet Reboot’. On top of that Rachel is looking over my shoulder, reading my post and commenting each day on her site - http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/. What we wanted to do is to give people an actual case study of how she and I approach the combination of fitness and nutrition. And, in today’s interview, Rachel and I talk through all this and hopefully it can help some folks sort through all the misinformation that is out there. In section one I’m going to muse a bit on why I think I’m ready to take on a 100 mile race this year. In Section two I’m going to disassemble the oft-quoted phrase “No Regrets!” … I had something happen to me this week which was a first for me in my running life. Have you ever heard the old joke that goes something like “I don’t jog because I don’t want to find a dead body!” Because for some reason those news stories always start with “…found by a jogger…”? Well I was running down by the Charles in Boston this week. The weather warmed up to above freezing and the sun was out so I made a concerted effort to get out at lunch. Boston got over a foot of snow during the ‘cyclone-bomb’ event last weekend and the bike path was still covered in places. I had a 1:15 easy run so it wasn’t a problem to navigate around the snow. I ran up river to one of the far bridges, crossed over and came back across the next bridge to get a sort of lollipop route of the right length. Since it had been so cold for several days in a row the full expanse of the rive was frozen over all the way down to the museum of science. There’s one bit along Storrow drive at the Boston University Bridge where the bike path abruptly runs out of room and they route you out, under the bridge, into the river, on a wooden bridge to get around the abutment and back on the bike path up river. Right after this the snow removal ceased and we had to navigate some lumpy foot paths for a few hundred feet. When I met another runner or pedestrian, one of us would have to give way on the snowy single path. It was in this dicey section on the way back that the lady runner I had already passed going out started talking to me. I had my headphones in, but she said something about they were pulling a body out of the river up ahead. They were breaking it out of the ice. Sure enough, when I went out on the wooden plank section that hugs the abutment there was a clutch of police. As I came to it I was expecting someone to stop me and I asked the one sad looking cop there if I could sneak by. He motioned that it was ok. Not more than 20 feet from me there were four more officers of some type carrying a stretcher up the icy bank with the body. They had the top of the torso covered, but a man’s boots and snow pants stuck out from the waist down. The State Police were interviewing a shaken looking runner. A good runner. I remember passing him and thinking ‘he’s the real deal’. Skinny, athletic and underdressed for this weather. He must have paused for some odd reason to stretch or to catch his breath between intervals or something to cause him to look over that wood railing into the river under the bridge. I kept going. They had Storrow Drive West shut down. There must have been 15 police cars there. That’s a first for me. Never had a CSI moment on one of my runs before. So my friends. As you’re out and about today. You may have your head cold, or your other challenges but you’re not toes-up frozen in the Charles River. You have that going for you. On with the Show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com Become a member … Section one – Why a 100-miler? - http://runrunlive.com/why-100-miler-and-why-now Voices of reason – the conversation Rachel Shuck – Nutrition Coach Rachel Shuck is a board certified nutrition coach with a passion for running and all things fitness. She currently teaches nutrition courses at the local college while pursuing her doctorate in clinical nutrition . She is certified with the International Sports Science Association and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association as well. Her personal journey began with running 5k’s and being at the back of the pack, to running marathons and becoming a Boston Qualifier. Along her decade long path of coaching runners she found a true passion for teaching people proper nutrition to fuel for optimal performance. Rachel’s articles and videos have been featured in Mind Body Green, Personal Growth, and the Livestrong website as well as local news shows covering health and fitness. It’s no secret – a healthy body is a happy body. Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you can do. Not only will you feel great, you will look great and inspire others to take care of themselves in the process. As a mother of two teenagers, I know how important eating right and exercising are for not just you, but the whole family. We have the power to influence the health and well-being of our loved ones and create a healthy lifestyle for future generations. I have experience teaching nutrition classes, group exercise classes and coaching runners. I coach people on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle, which includes learning to eat right for life and developing the proper mindset to want to do that. Long term success is the ultimate goal. Hiring a coach or trainer can strengthen your health, take your athletic performance to the next level, guide you in making the correct food choices, and improve your confidence and outlook on life. As a board certified nutritional coach, I’m knowledgeable in how food affects your performance, So if you want to live a stronger and more confident life, I’ve got the training and the expertise to help you every step of the way. http://www.nextlevelnutrition.fitness/ Section two – No Regrets - http://runrunlive.com/no-regrets Outro Ok my friends you have eaten handfuls of probiotic macronutrients to the end of episode 4-379 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Coach is starting to ramp me up for the spring season. It looks like he’s going to add some back-to-back volume to my weekends in addition to my normal Boston Marathon training cycle. I’m not going to run any of the spring races with Frank and Brian. Maybe I’ll do Eastern States in March, but I’m skipping Derry. I’m going to run my plan and focus on staying healthy. I’m not even half way into the Diet Reboot but I already feel better. I have so much more energy in my runs. I feel like someone removed a sandbag from my shoulders. I’ve got an hour on the schedule today. I think I’ll put my old trail shoes on and go muck about in the snow in the woods. Maybe I’ll take Buddy with me for a short bit. The old dog is getting cabin fever. Next week I’m talking to a really cool guest, Lori, who is running Boston this year. She got hit by a car out running in 2016 and went from being in a coma for 5 days to running New York and Boston. I hope the audio is good enough because it’s a impactful story. … I’ve been working some long hours in the city. I get up at 5:00 AM and am on the road by 6:00 and in the city by 7:00. Depending on my schedule I usually hit my workout in the morning to get it done and off my plate. Which gets me into my office around 8:30. Typically I’ll work until 6:00 or 7:00 and get back to my house around 8:00. It’s a long day. Towards the end of the week, especially this week with my head cold, I was dragging. I had a hill workout on Friday. I haven’t quite figured out a good place to do hill workouts in the city yet so I did it on the treadmill in the gym. I was surprised how easy it felt given the head cold and how I was dragging. Again, the diet reboot is amazing for your workout energy. Then I got showered up and put on my work clothes. This office isn’t suit and tie, but it’s business dress. I’m an executive so I try to err on the side of business. I had a full day of meetings including interviewing a candidate for a position I’m hiring to. During the day I was noticing how baggy my underwear felt. I don’t wear anything special just your run of the mill boxer briefs. I kept thinking, there must be something going on with this pair because they just aren’t fitting right. Towards the end of the day I realized what it was. Have you guessed? Yeah, I was so tired in the morning I put my underwear on backwards and didn’t realize it until the day was almost over. I had a good chuckle over that. Hey, No regrets, right? I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

Episode 4-378 – End of Season Contemplation with my Coach

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-378 – End of Season Contemplation with my Coach (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4378.mp3] Link epi4378.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello, and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-378, This is your dear friend Chris. How is everything going? I’m trying very hard to get back on my publishing schedule. To get back in balance. Not just because I believe consistency is a big part of quality in the product you consume here. I do appreciate your attention and I’m grossly aware of my duty! I also need to keep writing to keep my own creative furnace fueled – which is why I started doing this in the first place – partly to help people, and myself, become better versions of themselves by sharing some of the tribal knowledge I’ve accumulated over the eons that I’ve been a practicing amateur endurance athlete. But also to keep my communication skills tuned up – writing as well as reading this copy to you with as much gusto as I can recruit! Well maybe not gusto, but at least enviable sincerity. Today we catch up with my coach, Jeff. He and I talk through the ups and downs of my 2017 training season. I like to use myself as a test subject to see what worked and what didn’t. It’s always important to look back at your training, your successes and your failures, to see if you can learn anything. You’re never too old to learn. We talked for a long time. I’m going to edit it down to a reasonable size, but I’ll post the raw interview on the members feed. In Section One we will talk about over-training. How to realize when you’re getting over-trained, what the symptoms are and how to avoid it. In Section Two I’ll tell you 10 things you don’t know about me. Like one of those Facebook posts. It’s cold up here in New England now. We are in full on Winter. We’ve had some good snow to make everything festive. It’s below zero Fahrenheit this week. More importantly how is Buddy the old wonder dog? Well, he just turned 14 years old. Which is pretty damn old for a border collie. He’s and old man! His hips don’t work so well and he’s deaf but he’s still mentally sharp. He gets skinnier every day. Skinny old man. The kids dress him in sweaters this time of year. They use him as a blanket to stay warm when they’re watching TV. He is very warm. He is well loved. He barks a lot. Just like an old man, he wants to be heard and doesn’t have time for niceties. He’ll stand in the front yard and bark at the woods at night. Picture it as a 98 year old man in his underwear yelling at the coyotes to stay off his lawn. “…when I was a boy… we had real coyotes, not these namby pamby city coyotes they got now…” … I ran out of podcasts to listen to last week. I’ve been changing phones a lot and have lost some of the regular ones I used to listen to. Some house cleaning and some pruning. Podcasts come and go. It’s an industry now and the old amateurs like myself are the anomaly. I opened the app and was looking around and went to see what Steve was doing over at Phedippidations. The app sorted with oldest first, and I downloaded a couple of his marathon race reports from 2005. The BayState Marathon and the Cape Cod Marathon. Steve did a great job with those old podcasts. Compelling and interesting stuff. Really well produced. Entertaining. You can hear how much in love he is with his training and racing and the newness of the sport and the community. If you listen to the Baystate race episode you’ll hear my buddy Frank calling out Steve’s name at one of the first water stops, the one with the rock music playing. That’s the same Frank who ironically qualified at Baystate with me a few weeks ago. I wasn’t at the water stop in 2005. I was running the race. I think I ran both those races and came up short in both. I think that year I ran a race in Maryland around Thanksgiving to finally get my qualification. That was a year and a half before I started podcasting but I would have been in the process of publishing my first book of running stories, The Mid-Packer’s Lament, (which is still available on Amazon). I love that about the podcasting thing. Being able to capture a moment of time. Being able to freeze the river of time and that person you were. It’s a slice of self-awareness. That Steve didn’t know what the future would hold. That Chris didn’t know either. In our hopeful narratives we saw that moment as a waypoint on an upward slope into the future. I think the one important take away for me is to understand that today, this race, this fitness, this Chris is a unique thing and may very well be as good as it gets. Think about that. How would you run your race? How would you live your life if today was as good as it gets? Seize the day. Savor that day. Today is all you have. The past is a old movie spinning sepia images across time. The future is nobody’s business. Today is your day. Use it. Enjoy it. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com Become a member … Section one – The Symptoms of over-training - http://runrunlive.com/over-training-symptoms Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline “Coach” as he is referred to by athletes has been training runners and triathletes globally for 20 years. The Coach is the founder and designer of Daily Fit Book. Although he is fully committed to the development and growth of DFB he will take on athletes of all levels that show a commitment and a strong desire to achieve new dreams and goals. www.dailyfitbook@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/DailyFit22/ @dailyfitbook (twitter) fitbook2 (instagram) Prsfit@gmail.com Section two – 10 things about me - http://runrunlive.com/a-little-bit-of-navel-gazing Outro Ok my friends you have wound down your training season to the end of 2017 and to the end of episode 4-378 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Well done. What have we got going in the new year? Actually, big things! I decided I needed to set myself up with a running goal that was a challenge. I signed up for the Burning River 100 in July and will chronicle my training for the race. Yeah, I know I said I’d never do it, but you hear in my conversation with coach that turning point. Why not? I’ve done a lot of stuff in my life but I don’t have a belt buckle. And, there’s a good chance I’ll fail spectacularly either in my training or in the race itself. If so are going to set BHAGs you have to have a good chance of failure. That failure is the stuff that teaches you and forces you out of your comfort zone and forces you to grow. So, calling all my ultra friends, I’m going to need advice, support and pacers! Here’s your chance VeganRunningMom, DirtDawg, Cooker, Leadfoot and all the others. Once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Chris Maddog Russell cry like a baby and soli himself. In addition to this I’ll be running my 20th Boston marathon. And, yes, I am qualified. We’ll have to schedule something fun for that. Oh, and I committed to finishing my zombie novel. There are some personal and professional goals that you don’t care about that I’ll be chasing as well. 2018 is going to be epic! (one way or the other) But, that’s all in the future. I’ll be wrapping up my 2017 season with the Groton Marathon. I’ve got 5 folks who said they were running with me. We’ll see who shows up because it’s going to be single-digit cold. But, you know my theory…If you do something truly stupid people will show up. On the first of the year I’ll run the Hangover Classic with Teresa and then jump into the Atlantic Ocean, because that’s what you do, right? And last but not least, I’m kicking off a 30 day Diet reboot on January first with my nutrition coach Rachel. I’ll be logging my food and stats and blogging about it every day. I’ll catch up with Rachel each week to review progress. I’ll probably record those weekly chats and put them up on the podcast feed. I thought it would be useful for people to hear my/our point of view on clean eating for endurance athletes. Think that’s enough? Another one of my theories is when you have too much to do, schedule more stuff and it will sort itself out! … I’ve been listening to a meditation podcast on the train in the morning called the Meditation Minis podcast. Episode 2 is about using meditation to clarify your vision, i.e figure out what you want to do. This is a great exercise to create goals for the new year. She walks you into a meditative state. Then brings you into the future so that you are looking back on your life. And asks the simple question “What are three things that you wish you had done?” I found that context very helpful to sort out the things I’m working on and what is important and what will make a difference. Try it. Don’t put off your dreams. Put them down on paper and find a way to get them done in 2018. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books